Hastings, Nebraska –
Dakota Wesleyan Women's soccer team traveled to Hastings, Nebraska for the quarterfinals of the GPAC Championship to face the No. 22 Broncos. After stout defense and missed opportunities, the Tigers went into half tied up with the Broncos 0-0. The second half saw a refreshed Broncos squad as they scored three goals and held the DWU offense to two shots. This loss would draw the end of the Tigers strong season. Head Coach John Hakari had this to say about the team's performance this season, "I'm really proud of the girls, to go from 1-11 last year to 5-6-1 is a massive improvement. It was huge to qualify for the playoffs with this being my second year as head coach, just shows how well the girls competed with everyone. We either improved the score line against everyone or flipped the games and it just shows how much we competed."
How It Happened –
The DWU women's soccer team had their work cut out for them this evening, as they were set to face nationally ranked No. 22 Hastings Broncos. The Tigers put on a defensive clinic, Isabella Gregg grabbed six saves in the first half and the back line put in the work to force tough shots for the Broncos. Throughout the first half, DWU forced bad shots and turnovers but were unable to capitalize on their offensive opportunities before the half closed. In the closing minutes of the first half, Isabella Veffredo set up to take a free kick near center field and had set up her teammates for a chance, but the Hastings defenders thwarted the header attempt to send the teams to the locker room with the scoreboard showing zero's.
DWU came out ready to keep up their competitive defense and stay patient for their perfect scoring opportunity, however Hasting had other plans for the match. Hastings took advantage of a loose ball and would walk it into the goal to open the second half. The Broncos would score their second goal in the next five minutes to go up 2-0 on the Tigers. Dakota Wesleyan would settle back down and get their composure back and looked to advance the ball on the Broncos. The offense had some great touches back and forth to push into the Bronco country, unfortunately the Bronco defense stood their ground just as well as the Tigers. Hastings would go on to score their third and final goal in the 72' minute to establish the 3-0 lead, but the Tigers weren't down and out. Cali Turigliatto and Hannah Petrucci put up great shots in the closing minutes of the match before the final whistle. Gregg would end the match with eight saves and finish the season with 75 saves. "I'm very happy with the team after tonight, 0-0 at half is amazing, Hastings is a tough team. We made a mistake coming out of half and got a little flustered and Hastings capitalized." – Coach Hakari
Next for the Tigers –
This match was the end of the Tigers season. DWU is going into the off season with plans to improve and prepare for next year. Coach Hakari commented on the off season plans for DWU "We are going to work on our defense, become harder to score on as well as work on scoring on our opportunities. We will lift and play lots of futsal this winter and get ready for spring games. We have a lot of talent in the freshman, sophomores, and juniors and we have a lot of dedicated girls here and a bright future."